1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hydraulic supply unit for lubricating and/or cooling mechanical and electrical components disposed in the nacelle of a wind power plant, and for supplying hydraulic actuating devices with hydraulic fluid.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In wind power plants mechanical, electrical, and hydraulic components are required that need lubricating and/or cooling or being supplied with hydraulic fluids. Hydraulic units are for example used for controlling the rotor brake, the yaw brake, the blade adjusting cylinder, the rotor locking bolts; in the process also lubrication of components such as the gearbox, and dissipating lost heat taking place by means of the fluids transported in the hydraulic systems. Thus the generator, the power electronics system and the transformer must be cooled, the gearbox lubricated and cooled and the hydraulic system must be supplied with a pressure fluid and cooled.
A disadvantage with the design of presently existing wind power plants is that installing such hydraulic supply units requires much effort and time. The units must be brought into the nacelle one by one, must be attached there individually and also connected individually. On top of this it is a disadvantage that each unit has to be tested on its own in terms of the function carried out by itself and tested together with the other components like the sensors and the electric system of the plant in terms of its interaction with the other components of the wind power plant. It has to be stated in summary that the installation of these individual supply units so far usually carried out at different places in the nacelle leads to a wind power plant design that is prone to malfunctions.
The object of the invention is therefore to produce a hydraulic supply unit that can be installed in a simple, fast, and safe manner, the object being in particular to reduce the testing phase of newly installed supply units to a minimum.